With the enrollment period over, do you consider the Affordable Care Act a success at this point?
Mary Zanger: “Yes. The Affordable Care Act is a gift to seven and a half million grateful Americans and many more to come. One huge contribution of the ACA is the term ‘pre-existing conditions.’ These words will no longer exist period! Parents can now include children up to age 26 on their plan allowing children working for minimum wage without benefits to now have healthcare. Also some preventative care is covered. The ACA is a step in the right direction of providing healthcare for all.”
Jim West: “At this point – yes! Is it perfect no! Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson and the Clintons couldn’t get a national health insurance program to this point; the medical community has fought it tooth and nail; Republicans in Congress continue to try and overturn it – almost everyone vested in the medial status quo has tried to nitpick it apart. But it’s on its way to being one of this country’s biggest successes.”
Ruth Erickson: “No! There are still too many inconsistencies with the 20,000-plus pages of the Obamacare bill. Many of the politicians who passed it never even read it, after Nancy Pelosi encouraged the passing of the Affordable Care Act and said they could read the bill later. Why was there such a rush on such an important and complicated issue? Many doctors will not take the patients due to the low reimbursement rates. Many patients who gave up their private insurance are finding that what they signed up for does not cover their medical needs. Many people out of work including young people are saying that they would rather pay the $95 fine because they can’t afford the premiums. Questions are not being answered.”
Richard Herrera: “It is still early but based on what I have read and heard, it has been a success. Healthcare for families is a success but I think there is room for improvement.”
Nants Foley: “No. Simply no.”
Marty Richman: “No, and the enrollment levels have nothing to do with it, it’s a fiscal disaster in the making. Enrolling more people in a really bad plan will not eliminate its fundamental flaws, every heavily subsidized enrollee comes with an enormous tax bill for the ever-shrinking workforce and it is a disincentive to job seeking. Did subsidizing the Chevy Volt make it a better car? We have already seen the results – no sense working if everything is “free” (at least free to you). The new mantra for many is, “Not working for anything is my right, supplying it to me is your obligation.”
Richard Place:“As a Tax Act yes. As a health plan no.”
